September 28th, 2004 15:55 hours Tokyo Time
Currently listening to: the hum of airplane workings and passenger noise.
Feeling: like I've left my heart in Saitama City.

I already miss Yuka. The customs agent just past the metal detectors asked me if I was alright because my eyes were red and I had tear streaks on my face. I am amazed at the impact she has on me. So sweet and caring. She has a smile that cannot be described in words. I managed to capture a few of them with my camera.

The sun has gone down again. I am going backwards in time to get back to Chicago. It was 11:45 AM when my plane took off. It will be 9:00 AM when I land back in Chicago. I will see two sunrises today. I don't want to say "home" yet because at the moment I feel like I'm leaving my home. I do miss Stella and I am looking forward to a huge bowl of cereal when I get to my apartment. ;)

I miss holding her hand. I will describe to my friends and family what areas we visited and what things I saw, but really, what I'm thinking of is holding her hand while walking down the streets, or in the movie theater, or the crowded trains, or on the escalators or in bed. She has a glow on her skin in the morning. Her face is peaceful and calm. Her touch is gentle. Her eyes are deep.

My flight to Tokyo was extremely boring, despite my anxiety. Somehow I managed to get a seat right over the enormous port side wing, so looking out the window was not so appealing. They kept the cabin lights off so that we could sleep, so the light coming through the windows was too bright anyway. The movie selection was pretty lame. I watched the new Harry Potter film and I think it's the best of the three. I finally struck a conversation with the Japanese woman next to me with about 45 minutes left in the flight, although I offered her gum several times during the flight. She lives in the "boys town" section of Chicago and is a student. I can't recall where she lives in Japan.

It took an hour to get through customs. I kept looking everywhere for Yuka, because I didn't know exactly where she would be. The line was long, but I think 3 or 4 flights arrived at the same time. The line got much longer towards the end and I could not see the end of it. I'm glad I got in the line when I did. Jeff Gershman and some of the other Gamespot.com staff were in line. They were there for the Tokyo Game Show. I talked to them each time we passed by each other.

Yuka looked perfect. We took the Naritta Express into Tokyo. I almost fell asleep a few times due to the time difference. The train was so quiet. I gazed out at the landscape under the overcast sky. We had to transfer a few times before getting to Saitama. There is a pachinko parlor right next to the train station there. We ordered a pizza and I played with Chobi a lot. Such an adorable cat and so tiny (just like Yuka). She has a meow that suggests that she's extremely pissed, when in fact she's just making conversation.

Yuka's apartment is very small. I would say that it's 1/4 the size of mine and it costs about $200 more than mine per month. Yeah. Space is not something found for cheap in Japan. Her toilet and other facilities are so high tech. I loved it. The toilet was super comfy and was electronic! It had a heated seat, deodorizer and bidet functions as well. She told me yesterday (Monday) that Will Smith liked the toilets in Japan so much that he had them imported to his home in the US. I would do the same, if I had that kind of $$$. Her shower room (the toilet has it's own room) is really cool. It has a large area for showering and is separate from the small tub. It's traditional in Japan to shower and get all the soap off of you before getting into the tub to soak. The coolest thing about this room is that it has its own heater and dehumidifier! So cool. You hang your wet towels or clothes or what ever and set the timer and temp and it all gets dried.

I can't decide if I should take my shoes off right now. Screw it. They're coming off. Ahhhhhhh much better. The oxygen masks didn't drop from the ceiling, so it looks like the rest of the plane is safe. Hehehehe.

Friday was rather chaotic. Yuka had to go to work that day, so she worked out a train schedule for me and I left for the area of Tokyo where the Getty branch office is located. I bought a phone card for Yuka's extra cell phone, but the number I had for Roger didn't work. I neglected to bring a map with the location of the office. Wooooooops. So, I went to Yuka's office area and wandered. The humidity is incredible. End of September and it's still in the low 80's but you sweat like crazy. I passed a rather interesting and compact graveyard and then got the largest can of coke I've ever seen. I decided to find some shade and lie low for a bit. Yuka met me at 1:00 for lunch and we went to a nearby noodle shop. I forget the name of the beverage they served instead of water, but it tasted like coffee and I gulped it down simply because I needed the fluids. Yuka commented on how it felt natural for me to be there. I agreed. She went back to work and I took a train to Shibuya and wandered around for about 5 hours. I eventually found a rather cool shrine area and a corporate park with benches where I took a rest and tried not to pass out. I discovered a cat hiding in the bushes behind me.

As the train arrived in Shibuya Station, I saw a scooter store in an alley. I went straight there. They had some nice, old, small frame Vespa's there. They were all VERY expensive. Most of the scooters I saw in Tokyo were newer models of various brands. I found some fantastic, vintage goggles for about $90. Brown leather. Awww yeah.

I found a shrine (I think) Northeast of the station. I forgot to ask Yuka the name of this. Honestly, I'm not even sure if it's a shrine or some other building, like a school.

Yuka sent me a text message and I then figured out how to change the menus on the phone to English so I could write back to her. I'm buying my own damn cell phone when I get back to Chicago. Text messaging is too fun. Brian called me around 5:45 and met me outside the station before Yuka arrived. I took some random pictures and one great shot of a homeless man sleeping under a statue of naked children. Brian looked great. I hadn't seen him in at least a year. I forgot what a naturally nice guy he is. Taka from Hartfield also met us there. He is also a really nice guy. We went to a great okonomiyaki restaurant. This is where you cook your own food on the giant skillet in the center of the table. Everyone helped and they did a great job. It was really good. Sort of like a potato pancake, but with Japanese ingredients.

Everyone in Japan is so nice. Service in convenience stores and restaurants and really anywhere you are served is always friendly. It's refreshing. When you're in a restaurant in America and you're out of water or something, what do you normally do? Yeah, you crane your neck and try to make eye contact with your server or hostess without saying a word, in hopes that they will see that you need something. In Japan, you simply say "sumimasen!" and someone usually replies "hai!" and they come up and help you. It's so nice. It actually took a little bit of getting used to.

We went to a nearby bar, which I think was called "shot bar". I finally had some Japanese whiskey. Brian ordered me a single of "yamazaki", which is 12 year old Suntory whiskey. It was served in what looked to me like a miniature brandy snifter and not a shot glass. But I shot it anyway and Yuka and Taka seemed to be surprised by this. Heheheh. I thank Chicago for my shooting skills. I had another one later on. I was actually surprised with what Taka was drinking; a "red eye". That's beer and tomato juice. Ummmmmm, no thank you. I'll pass. Hahahahaah. Brian had just flown in from California. I was tired from walking. Yuka and Taka were tired from work, so we all called it a night.... at 10:30. WOW. That's usually around the time that I'm leaving to go out for the night. I was so exhausted. I kept falling asleep while standing on the train back to Yuka's.

I'm really glad the seat next to me is empty. I'm stuck in the middle row and it's 4 seats wide.

Saturday got off to a slightly late start. Brian called and wanted to meet us in Shinjuku at 2:00. We got there a little early and walked around. There was a film store that resembled a fruit section at a grocery. Racks and racks of film in refrigerated shelves. I think Shinjuku station is the largest building I've ever been in. You could get lost easily in there. We met up with Brian, who was sitting on a fence eating Onigiri and reading a book. It was nice having him with us for another day. We all took a train to Shimokitazawa and had a fantastic lunch. I looooooove Japanese food. I sat there in awe, watching Yuka completely de-bone a fish using her chopsticks. "I am Japanese" was all she said, with a grin. We wandered around lots of shops and I found some hilarious t-shirts. We went to a crazy book store and I bought a children's book that Yuka loves called "Chocolate wo tabeta sakana", which means "the fish who ate chocolate". It's all written in Hiragana, so I should be able to translate it. We went to a used clothes store called "Chicago". The neon sign had a palm tree on it. HUH? Brian and I laughed at that one.

We traveled back to Shinjuku and met with Takeshi, a friend of Brian's, who was super nice. Shinjuku is the Times Square of Tokyo. There are lights everywhere and also people everywhere. It's freakishly crowded. Plus, we were there on a Saturday. We actually went to an Irish pub for dinner. There's something surreal about eating fish and chips in an Irish pub while in Japan. Hehehe. We strolled over to the gay district and went to a neat little bar. One of the bar tenders used to live just north of Chicago. Small world. One TV screen had some serious gay porn on and another TV was showing Trainspotting.

We slept in late on Sunday and eventually arrived in Harajuku. This is the area featured in that book called "Fruits", which I'm sure a lot of you have seen. I liked this area a lot. Cute, with lots of personality. We had a great lunch at this Chinese place. Beautiful thick, wooden tables and benches. I learned a new phrase, "beeru no tomo" which basically means "friend of beer". That's what she called the appetizer we had. Lots of tourists in this area. We strolled around the little shops and took pictures randomly. We discovered a parade traveling down the street. I think I asked what it was for, but I can't remember now. The goth kids were out on the bridge, where they hand out every Sunday. If Katie Stenberg ever went there, she would be a hit.

The Meiji Shrine is sort of tucked away in Harajuku and is absolutely beautiful. With the weather being so dark and misty (a little annoying ;) ), the wooded area was nicely spooky. The Shinto gates are about 70 feet tall. We passed a sign bored of haiku. We got to wash our hands before we entered the main area. We passed a huge wall of large sake barrels and Yuka explained to me their importance and the "mirror" concept with the lids of the barrels. The open areas of the main compound were beautiful. I would like to see them in the winter. We were extremely lucky and got to see a traditional Japanese wedding procession. The bride looked beautiful and the groom seemed very happy. I was a little annoyed with all the western tourists that were taking pictures of them, but I wanted to do the same. Obviously I didn't get up close. I wanted to maintain some degree of respect.

We walked past a huge arena on our way to Shibuya. There was a female pop idol performing later in the evening and the lines were huge. We walked through a park area that had several live performers. Pretty cool that they can do that. Too bad the weather wasn't that nice to them.

We went to a new department store called Loft. We bought some toys and I bought a Noren for myself and Maria. We stopped by a box office and got tickets for a movie called Gerry. I had not heard of this movie at all. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, directed by Gus Van Sant. We got dinner and I realized that I can't determine anyone's age who isn't obviously an adult or a child. Everyone could have been 22 for all I know. We stopped by the scooter store again for one last purchase and then went to HMV, where I proceeded to buy over $100 in CD's and drool all over the Stone Roses DVD which isn't out yet in my own country. Grrrrrr. I was feeling so "at home" with headphones on listening to music that I was actually surprised that the woman spoke to me in Japanese at the register and I didn't understand a word she said. Funny.

The theater where was saw Gerry was really cool and also very small. We got a seat in the balcony. I would have appreciated this movie a lot more had I not been so tired. It's an intense movie and I would like to see it again, I think. Jackass: The Movie, is coming there soon and Yuka wants to go see it. Awesome. I guess the ad had a line about "buy a ticket and get a free vomit bag". WTF? Did that happen when it came out here? It's not THAT gross. We bought some awesome soy flavored chips and some other "beeru no tomo" and watched her DVD of "How Do You Feel About Wednesdays". Hearing Yuka say the word "piles" over and over was hilarious.

Oh, lunch on this plane was great. They gave me a little bottle of white wine! Cool! Now I'm drinking more green tea. They keep showing up out of nowhere to refill my cup.

Monday was our day to be lazy. We didn't have any food for breakfast, so we took a stroll in the rain up to the new shopping center nearby. I'm impressed how people can ride a bicycle and hold an open umbrella at the same time. For some reason, my insides started to mess with me and I spent a while in the toilet. I mention this purely to recall the fact that heated toilet seats rule. I bought some more gifts and Yuka bought groceries. We skipped buying natto, which was probably a good idea considering I wasn't feeling well. I slept with Chobi on my lap while Yuka cooked a fantastic lunch. I'm glad I felt well enough to eat. We laid on the bed and watched Battle Royale 2 with Chobi sleeping between us. Felt like a little family. We had a nice discussion about children and violence after the movie was over. We decided to skip going out to dinner, so she made some spaghetti with soy, olive oil and black pepper with some mushrooms mixed in. She's an excellent cook and I have got to try to replicate this recipe.

I experienced my first Tokyo rush hour this morning. Might not have been so bad had I not had my luggage with me. Getting shoved into train cars is crazy. And I honestly mean SHOVED. The Narrita Express was again very nice. Yuka fell asleep under my arm. I've been crying on and off ever since.

It's dark now and my hand is cramped from writing so much. Oh! Casshern is one of the movies on this flight! I've been dying to see this movie. It's a little weak in the plot department but the visuals are outstanding. I also have Miracle (yay) and Troy (eh) to watch as well. Right now I have "Little Busters" by The Pillows blasting in my iPod. I don't want to go to Chicago. But I will be back. Soon.